Notebook: Boxing blends with MMA

Local fighters to compete at Hollywood Palladium on mixed card.

May 29, 2010|From News-Press | Staff Reports

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene.

GFC FIGHTERS SET FOR HOLLYWOOD Glendale fighters Roman "The Emperor" Mitichyan and Artur "The Punisher" Bernetsyan are both scheduled to compete in respective contests on June 12 at MEZ Sports' "Pandemonium" at the Hollywood Palladium.

The card will feature both mixed martial arts and boxing.

Bernetsyan (3-0, 2 KOs) will look to continue a promising start to a promising career when he faces Ramon Flores (3-6-1, 3 KOs) in a 135-pound bout. Flores was originally slated to fight Bernetsyan on May 6 at a King of the West card, but the former pulled out to due the death of his father. It will be Bernetsyan's fourth fight of the year.

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Mitichyan (10-3), a former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter, will fight for the first time since August of 2009, headlining the MMA portion of the event.

One of Mitichyan's training partners at the Main Event Sports Club, Sevak Magakian, was originally scheduled to face Preston Scharf at the aforementioned May 6 event.

Now, Mitichyan will take on Scharf (11-8) in the event's MMA main event.

Mitichyan, who teaches at the Glendale Fighting Club where Bernetsyan is trained, was scheduled to headline a similar MMA/boxing event promoted by MEZ Sports in April at the Shrine Auditorium, but the event fell through.

Also scheduled to compete on the card is Burbank welterweight boxer Johnny Suarez (5-3-2) and, in the main event, heavyweights Andrey Fedosov (21-1, 17 KOs) and Lance Whitaker (34-6-1, 28 KOs) are set to face off in a 10-round boxing match. Fedosov's last two victories came in Glendale at the Glendale Civic Center.

BECKER LEADS TEAM TO CITY TITLE Former Glendale High and Glendale Community College softball Coach Craig Becker navigated his Kennedy High squad to a City Section Championship with its 1-0 win over Chatsworth on Wednesday at Cal State Northridge.

The only run of the game came controversially in the second inning when Danielle Estrada scored.

With the bases loaded, Kennedy's Kellie Mason sent a sinking shot to Chatsworth second baseman Ashley Waters. Waters fielded the ball and came home with a throw for an apparent forceout.

However, the field umpire ruled it a catch and incorrectly ruled it a third out and ordered the players off the field.

Estrada crossed the plate, however. And during an ensuing discussion between the umpires it was ruled that Estrada would score, but the remaining runners would return to their bases.